Apparatus for punching shapes from sheet metal



J. M. HOTHERSALL 1,816,150

APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING SHAPES FROM SHEET METAL July 28, 1931.

Filed Dec. 27, 193 25 Sheets-Sheet l a INVENTOR ATTORNEYS July 28, 1931. .1. 'M. HOTHERSALL 1,816,150

APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING SHAPES FROM SHEET METAL Filed Dec. 27, 1 s she'ts-sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTOR N EYS July 28, 1931. J. M. HOTHERSALL 1,816,150

I v APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING SHAPES FROM SHEET METAL Filed Dec. 27, 1 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented July 28, 1931 A i uNirEn 1 sTATEfs PATENT OFFICE JOHN 'MI' HoTHEEsA L, OF'QBROOKLYNVNEW YORK, ASSIGNOR ro AMERICAN CAN v com uter EW Y RK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY rPAEArUs FORT'PUNCHING SHAPES FROM SHEET METAL Application filed December 27, 1926. Serial No. 157,204.

This invention relates to an apparatus for cutting blan'ks from" sheet material, and

' while it has more particular reference to the manufacture of. can ends from strips having undulating edges of the stagger layout, it will be readily manifest that the in- Vention has other. and valuable application.

. r lthas been customary in;connectionwith the operation of cutting and formlng presses 1 in the manufacture of circular articles, such as canends, to PI'OVldO iLIl automatic feed which moves a previously prepared strip of tin plate or the like past a cutting station in suchtimed'step by step action as to insure the removal of one" of the circular articles from eachadjacentspace'ofthe StIflP..; The

' strip is previously prepared to provide the most economical cutting operation. A re- -moval from the strip of the: greatest area of metal and which leavesthe smallest possible skeleton scrap, of course, effects greatest economy and largest production from the sheet material. This is accomplished when the sheetof metal is divided into strips in accordance with what is known as the stagger layout This stagger layout permits the outer edges of the circles of one row to liejclosely to the outer edges of the circles of adjacent row This type of layout-is obtained by forming stripswithscroll or undulating edges, the edges of adjacent strips dovetailing or interlockingv .withcach other i when arr'anged' sidelby. side (In; dividing a sheet of tin plateinto strips ofthis character, it is, of, course, apparent that ceri= tain ofthe strips will have portions of their ends too small to providejheprimary circular objects forwhich thefstrip is laid out.

These end portions, under the {present method, are removed from the end orends .of the strips and are subsequently fed to I to get smallerarticles therefrom as, for exwhat is known as, a recoverypress in order ample, can ends of narrow or oblong type.

. This operation of removing the end pieces in the shearing machine'which forms the strips and the subsequent somewhat difli- I cult operation of feeding the removed end pieces into a press for the purpose of recovery does, of course, entail considerable expense, occasioned by the handling and feeding of the, pieces and the operation of the recovery press itself. 7

My present invention contemplates the removal of the recovery pieces in the press cutting out the larger can ends for which the layout is or was originally designed and this without interfering with the usual action of the press or reducing its speed and capacity. Y

My invention contemplates the removal of the recovery piece from the advance end of the strip simultaneously with removal of the first full size can end or primary article and where the following or rear end of the strip provides a recovery to out this from the material by'anormal operation of the press.

Afurther object of the invention is the attainment of the recovery through the employment of automatic presses of standard construction and through the mere addition of recovery'dies and the provision of an additional supplemental feeding device which can be readily vincorporated in the press Without appreciable alteration and change.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as itlis better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

'Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of an automatic strip feed press;

7 For the purpose of illustratingmy,pres-' ent invention, I have shown on the drawings a strip feed press comprising, the usual base 11 and upright or arbor 12. The arbor 12 carries guides 13in which a slide or die support 14 is reciprocated by the pitman 15 from the crank-shaft 54 carrying flywheel 55. The usual side extension 22 supcut is fed into a slot formed by guide meme bers 21in fihe'u'sfual manner.- I

Reference character 26*indi'c'ates the "usual male cutting die for cutting out the can 7 end and thisish eld in place in the slide, 14 by the holding plate is. n will, of'course, beunderstood' that the die 26' is adapted to" CO-Operate W l1l..@p9 ml?e i 1. d e; ranged in thefbed 18, which in turn is sup ported on thebase 11; S0 much ofthestrip' feed press as has been thus far described is of standard c onstructioh and detair showdie acanctfor conjoint mcvement'therewith,

and it will be meted that this die 2m of," smaller size' than'thedie 26 and is adapted to cut' a recovery or secondary article or blank from the stripoperating and from portions that 'her'etofore have constituted the recovery pieces earlier described." j

Referring w-to Fig.- 3-, refe1'-enee1char acter 33 indicates the scroll strips produced by the sta geredcut-'ou't. The lines'of' cut 1 for the primary articles or round can ends are indicated by dotted lines 33; 'It will be I ncte d'that this stagger layout provides end l round can ends. The dotted lines-indicatec 35 portions'20' and 2070-1": the stiipQO which are inadequate in area to provide'full size by reference character illustrate the shape and size of the intended recovery from the strips shown on the drawing.

Fig. 4 discloses the relation of the two dies 26 and 27, and when the strip is fed laterally into the slot or'guidewa'y It) with the portion defined by theline QU under the recovery die, the first operation of the press Wlll cut or punch from the sheet apriinary round can end and asecondary or recovery-= oblong blank. Thereafter the feed slide 24 advances the strip to the position shown in Fig. 5, from which it will be noted that the" recovery die passes'idly through-the opening just previously formed by the main or primary die 26, this die at this time cut-- ting a second full sized can end from the:

next complete full width portioni'of the scroll strip. The strip is progressively fed I on through the press until the main die has will now be described and which gives it a longer teed than that or the step by step feed movement required for the successive I operations of the main die 26. This action may be observed by comparing Figures 4- 6, wherein the normal feed of the appara his is indicated by the dottedline B- A, this being the distance between centers of successive circular lines of cut. In order that the main die rnay. not spoil the endof the strip or which recovery is'to'be made, the feed of the strip must carry its end out of the-zone of action of theinain die and intothe path of the secondary or recovery die 27. This length of feedis indicated on the line G*A'in Fig.

An extension 36i's provid e'd the delivery end of the strip feed press and a feed "slide 341s arranged to're'ciprocate in guideways in this extension. A link 39 is pivoted to this feed slide 34 at38 and this I link 39 intur'nis pivoted at40 to" one arm ing and description-1s thought unnecessary.

I mount a recovery d1e'27 adjaeei'it the 41 of abell crank lever. Thisbell crank lever'i's pivoted at 42 in' an upward extending' arm 43 on the extension 36. A link 45 is pivdt'edto the other arm 44-016" this bell cranklever and also at' 47 to an arm 46 of a" secor'id'b'ell cr'anklever mounted upon the arbor or upright '12 earlier described.

The upright 12 carries 'a shaft 53 geared to 'the shaft 54in any suitable manner. A

cam "52 'is mountedon the shaft 53 and is engaged'by a rollertl upon the second arm 50 of the bell crank pi-voted at 48,the other arm 46- of which is,-"as' has been explained, connected'at 47 with the link $5.- The shaft '53- makes one complete revolution (clock- Wise, Fig; 2) to complete a cycle of Opera tions for one strip. In other words, the

the travel ofqthe feedfslide'is" such as to m art to the strip the travel C- A shown in Fig. 6," this travel being accomplished "by passage o'f the caniroller :"J'l'along a steep portion c-f'the' cam 52,asjshewn in Fig. 2. Outer movementef; the" fe d dogs 37'- takes place during the raising of the die support lean'd as the cam rellerr'eaches' theapcsit10n S'hOWI1 in F ig. 2,.thereis ainiom'entaryi pause in the travel ot-the feed dogs to pernnt the final cutting action by the recovery die 27 from the end 20 cf the strip. As the die carrier 14 moves upwardly, further centinued rotation of the cam 52 by reason" of'the seen-teeter its cam groove further moves the feed 'dogs 37-outwardly in the same direction and ejects the skeleton strip fromv themachine'." J 1 Considerationof thecontour ef the groove of the cam 52 will show that when the roller 51 1 nearest'the shaft 53 the feed dogs 37 are in their innermost position, as illustrated in Fl'g -l asthe earn moves in a clockwise'direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, the steep" part of the cam moves the roller 51 further from the shaft 53 bringing it into the position illustrated in this figure. As previously described, this brings the strip into position for the final recovery cutting operation as shown in Fig. 6. Further rotation. of the cam then moves the feed dogs 37 still further outwardly for the ejecting operation, as previously described. Further movement ofthe feed dog, as controlled by oscillation of the bell crank l6 on its pivot 48 then returns the feed dogs at a relatively slow rate and throughout half .of the rotation of the cam 52 and thence tions are taking place, the strip being advanced at such time by the initial feeding inechanism comprising the feed dogs 25.

vto

The springs of the feed dogs permit the strip to be moved thereunder, the strip at such time moving toward the right (Fig. 1) While the feed dogs are moving in the op posite direction. I

It is thought that the invention and many ofits attendant advantages Will be understood from the foregoing description, and it Will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all ofits material advantages, the form merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

1 I claim:

1. In an apparatus for cutting objects from strip material, the combination of, a

reciprocating primary cutter for cutting full size objects from said strip, a strip feeding device successively presenting portions of the strip to said cutter, a secondary or recovery cutter mounted adjacent and conjointly movable With the primary cutter and of a size adapting it to pass through the openings formed previously by the primary cutter, and means presenting to said secondary cutter a portion of-the strip inadequate in area to receive a full cut of the primary cutter. I i

2. In an apparatus for cutting articles from strip material, the "combination of, a

primary cutter adapted to cut articles of a maximum size permitted by the strip, means presenting successive portions of the strip to said cutter, a secondary or recovery cutter mounted adjacent and movable with said primary cutter and of a size adapted to pass through openings previously formed in the hereinbefore described being to arrange a Waste or recovery portion of the strip for operation by the secondary or recovery cutter.

3.. In an apparatus for cutting articles from strip material, the combination of, a primary cutter and a secondary cutter arranged side by side and adapted for simultaneous operation upon said strip to cut a recovery'piece from an end thereof and an article of maximum size permitted by dimensions of the strip, and means progressively thereafter feedlng the strip past sald cutters and arranglng uncut portions of the strip in the path of the primary cutter and cut portions of the strip in the path of the secondary cutter.

4. In a strip feed apparatus, the combina tion of, conjointly movable primary and secondary cutters, means feeding a scroll strip past said cutters and presenting full Width portions successively to the primary cutter, and second feeding means presenting a Waste or recovery portion at the end of the strip to the secondary cutter.

JOHN M. HOTHERSALL.

strip by the primary cutter, and a second feeding device operable after the primary cutter has finished its operations on the strip 

